Reading in 2026

One of my goals for the year is to read more books than I have in the past few years now that I don't have assigned reading for school anymore. For many people, reading 24 books in a year is not that hard to do. For me, it is a challenge because I don't know if I have done it when not reading children's books (which I am also reading for my part-time job). I am a bit of a slow reader, but I savor what I'm reading and don't see that changing any time soon. 

One way that I am doing this is by reading at least one nonfiction book each month. So far, this is going really well. I read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in January, Atomic Habits in February, and I am currently reading Old Fashioned on Purpose which should be done by the end of the month without a problem. These books have definitely added to my knowledge and helped me make some positive changes in my life. 

I have also joined a book club through my local library to help me expand my reading into other genres, keep me accountable with my reading goals, and help me socialize. So far, this book club is helping in all of those ways. Both books we have read so far pushed me a bit outside of my comfort zone. The first book was Then She Was Gone. The story telling was decent in this book but reading about a teenager being tortured and killed gave me nightmares. The next book was The Rose Code. This was a very long book, but I really liked reading the historical aspects of it. I googled parts of the story more than once to see if it was real or fiction and was elated when they were real. When I found out that the main location in the book was not only real but became a museum, I told my husband we need to find a way to go to England to see it. The book we are reading now is Clytemnestra. All I know about it is that it is Mythological fiction. I'm dreading it a bit because I'm not really a fan of mythology, but I will make myself read it all of the way through by next month's meeting (we meet on the third Thursday of each month). I have told myself that I will read each book assigned no matter what for at least a year. If at the end of the year, I decide the book club is not for me, I will just stop going. There are plenty of people on the wait list willing to take my spot if I decide to walk away. Until then, I will enjoy expanding my horizons, learning about subjects I know very little about, and talking to a group of ladies who I would probably not have met in any other way. 

A funny thing has happened as I have worked on reading more along with my other goals for the year. I have been on my phone less, watched TV less, and enjoyed life more. It is amazing how much of life can be enjoyed when I'm not constantly bombarded by the news! I also feel like I am learning more about myself and the world by simply experiencing what it has to offer. I am excited to see how things change as I make these simple adjustments in my life that add up to significant changes in the long run. 

A Bit Odd

 I have always been a bit odd. I don't fit into a lot of boxes. In elementary school, I was the quiet kid that was older and bigger than most of the other kids. As I teenager, I was one of the few people I knew with divorced parents, and I was definitely the only person who had a mother in a relationship with a woman. (It was the 90s. The world was different.) As an adult, I have always been socially awkward and constantly wondering if someone was being nice to me because they actually cared of if they were just being fake. (I have been around so many fake people that I have gotten better at figuring this out quicker.) This made social situations hard for most of my life, but I am caring less and less over the past 5 or 6 years. 

I sit at home working Monday through Friday with little interaction with the outside world during working hours. This has caused me to feel like I'm going crazy more than once. I am constantly on the lookout for things that may indicate I'm mentally ill like my mother. So far, I have only been diagnosed with situational depression. After a while of my husband doing his best to get me out of the house, I started finding my own ways to interact with other people, and I was determined to not change for anyone. 

I joined a virtual book club a few years ago that fizzled out before we finished discussing the first book. (We were reading one chapter a week and discussing it.) The book chosen made me think about myself and my habits differently and helped me embrace the things that made me different. I started knitting and crocheting in church that summer. You know what happened? People started asking me what I was making and complimenting me on my work. There have since been other people, adults and children, knitting and crocheting at church. I wasn't as weird as I thought with this desire. 

About a year later, I started working in the temple. I was worried that I would struggle to learn the things I needed to learn. I was worried that being a divorced and remarried person would make me stand out. I was worried that I would struggle with social situations. None of this was a problem. I learned at the same pace as the other ladies who started around the same time. There are other women who have been divorced and remarried. No one cares that I say odd stuff and talk about death more than the average person. I am accepted and have made friends. 

Doing magic with children has really taken me out of my comfort zone, but kids don't care. They just want to learn magic and play. I have said it many times and feel it even more now that my kids are all grown up: little kids are amazing! I love how even the smallest things are exciting and new to them. Best of all, they just see me as an old lady teaching them magic and have no other judgements of me. 

I have also joined a book club at my local library. When I did this, I worried that the books I like would be too odd for them. It's not. Not everyone likes the same genres, and no one seems to judge others for their likes and dislikes. We are all reading the same book at the same time and expanding our likes and dislikes together. It doesn't matter that I don't know as many literary terms. I just don't talk when they talk about those parts of the books. I will probably understand and be able to talk that way after a few months. For now, I am just another person in the group that has read the book and has opinions.

I know that I make choices that are odd sometimes, and I will continue to do so. The thing is, I don't care anymore. If you don't like my garden in my front yard, don't look at it. If you don't like that I read non-Fiction every morning, that's ok because you aren't the one reading it. If the fact that I have a Barbie display in my bedroom puts you off in some way, who cares? It makes me happy. If you don't like that I'm religious, it doesn't bother me. I will respect your beliefs as long as you respect mine. You don't like that I am politically more in the middle and won't choose who or what I vote for without research? Oh, well. I am don't changing who I am to appease other people. I am different, but everyone should be different. We weren't made to be the exact some. That would make for a very boring existance.